Calcutta: The countdown has begun. Before daybreak on Sunday, notwithstanding the chill, the Maidan will be packed with runners — professional and amateur, young and old, from near and far. The first race of the Tata Steel World 25K Kolkata, partnered by The Telegraph, will start at 5.30am. If you are headed to Red Road on Sunday, and even if you are not, here’s what you need to know:

Route

The course takes in some of the city’s majestic sights — the Eden Gardens, Victoria Memorial, Vidyasagar Setu, Prinsep Ghat, Fort Williams and National Library — with the start and end points on the iconic Red Road. The runners will move through south Calcutta pockets of Alipore, Kalighat, Golpark and Southern Avenue.

Traffic

• Red Road will be shut to all vehicles from 11pm on Saturday to 1pm on Sunday or till the race is over, said a traffic notification issued by police.
• The following roads will be among those shut to traffic from 5.30am to 1pm or till the race is over — the west-bound flank of Mayo Road, Casuarina Avenue, Queensway, Kidderpore Road, Lovers Lane, Hospital Road, Dufferin Road, Outram Road, St Georges Gate Road, Strand Road, Kingsway and AJC Bose Road (Exide intersection to Hastingsintersection).
• The following roads will be among those shut to traffic from 5.30am till the race gets over — Rani Rashmoni Avenue, the east-bound flank of Mayo Road, JL Nehru Road, Park Street, Rawdon Street, Theatre Road (from its intersection with AJC Bose Road till the Park Circus seven-point intersection), the western-flanks of Syed Amir Ali Avenue and Ashutosh Chowdhury Avenue, the eastern flanks of Gurusaday Road and Circus Avenue, Southern Avenue, the north-bound flank of the Lake Gardensflyover, Kalighat Road and AJC Bose Road.
• Several more tweaks will be in place on roads in south Calcutta.

Timings

The Open 10K and Police Cup run will be flagged off at 5.30am. The 25K Elite race will start at 6.30am, followed by the 25K Amateur and Vijay Diwas runs at 6.32am.

The Senior Citizen’s Run and Champions with Disability will start at 8.20am and Ananda Run at 8.50am.

TSW 25K Kolkata, partnered by The Telegraph, will see an impressive line-up of international runners at the starting line on December 15.

Watch out for

The current event record in the men’s category is held by Daniel Ebenyo from Kenya, with a timing of 1:11:13. The women’s record is held by Sutume Kebede, from Ethiopia, with a timing of 1:18:47. The records were made last year.

Both Ebenyo and Kebede will return to TSW 25K this year, the organisers said. Kenya’s Benson Kipruto and Haymanot Alew of Ethiopia will be among the top contenders for the pole position. Earlier this year, Kipruto won the Tokyo Marathon. He went on to win the bronze medal in
the Paris Olympics this summer. Alew finished just outside the podium in Calcutta last year but bagged the second spot at the Tata Mumbai Marathon.

The women’s line-up for 2024 includes Desi Jisa from Bahrain, who won the 2022 edition here. Jisa was part of the Bahraini team that won the bronze medal in the World Cross-country Championships in 2017 and placed second in the recent Doha (2023) and Seoul (2024) marathons. Another past champion in Calcutta (2017), Degitu Azimeraw, who hails from Ethiopia, will also be a top draw. Earlier this year, she won the Barcelona Marathon.